BATON ROUGE -- Gov. John Bel Edwards' push to raise Louisiana's minimum wage crashed again in the Senate on Wednesday (May 24), leaving the state's lowest-wage workers to be paid at the federal rate of $7.25 per hour. The Finance Committee voted 7-3 against the proposal from Sen. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans.

The vote split along party lines, with Democrats supporting the wage hike and Republicans opposing it. It was the same panel where a similar bill stalled last year.

"We talk a lot about family values in Louisiana, but when the Legislature had the opportunity to actively value families, it failed," said Edwards, a Democrat.

Carter's Senate Bill 153 would have boosted the minimum wage to $8 per hour in 2018 and to $8.50 a year later. Supporters said the increase would lift people out of poverty and make them less-reliant on government-financed services, giving 85,000 Louisiana workers an estimated average $852 pay increase.

"A better-funded, better-paid [worker] benefits Louisiana, benefits families, benefits communities," Carter said. "We're asking for the tiniest sliver of an increase, to send a message to the people of Louisiana that we want to help them, that we feel their pain."

Sen. Greg Tarver, a Shreveport Democrat and business owner, said he pays employees more than minimum wage, adhering to the belief that if "you take care of your employees, they take care of you." He chastised lawmakers for doing more for companies than for their workers.

"We give all these businesses a tax break, and we can't give our own people in Louisiana a dollar an hour? Something's wrong there," Tarver said. "Let's help the little man sometimes. We always help the big boys."

Opponents said the higher pay could harm businesses and cause them to lay off some employees to pay other workers higher wages. "You may be jeopardizing the very jobs those folks have," said Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie, echoing the arguments made by business organizations.

Appel said income will rise when the state's economy improves and grows. He said Louisiana's efforts are better spent working toward that goal.

Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, said she thinks businesses will pay more to their workers when it's in their best interest to do that. If forced to boost pay, "businesses are going to look for ways to minimize expenses and maximize their profits," she said.

Senators on both sides of the debate referenced competing sets of data. They described improved economic conditions in areas with a higher minimum wage, or decreased jobs where the wage went up.

Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, said $7.50 an hour isn't a "livable wage." But he said people can improve their economic conditions with available education programs.

Sen. Wesley Bishop, D-New Orleans, told opponents the debate shouldn't have to return year after year. "At some point we have to help the folks who need the most help," he said.

Twenty-nine states have minimum wages higher than the federal level, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.